Christmas is upon us!

Well, it's that time of year again, Christmas.  It is and always has been my favorite holiday.  The 25 Days of Christmas on the ABC Family Channel is a personal favorite for the holidays as there is a new Christmas movie every night.  Putting up the tree, stringing Christmas lights and sitting by the fire roasting marshmallows is another highlight (of course if I still lived up north, the roasting marshmallows would make more sense but oh well). I also love receiving Christmas cards in the mail.  It is a special way to remain in touch with people you don't see very often.  You get to see pictures of their family, kids, pets, etc... and I always place these on my fridge.  I have so many on there now that it is hard to see what color the door is.  Unfortunately, I have not always been very consistent about sending cards, but I have succeeded for the past two years.  This year I made my Christmas cards on Shutterfly and they are so cute I just had to post them here.  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with friends and family and celebrate the many blessings God has given you this year!

Christ Is King Religious Christmas Card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

TV Season 2010 Pulse Check

Back in September I wrote two blogs on my favorite new Dramas and Comedies of the 2010 season. It is now time for a pulse check - how are they doing so far, are they still beating or on life support?

Beating Strong - Raising Hope
This show still makes me laugh. When the scripts are good so are the episodes. There have been a few blah ones, but overall I am really enjoying this blue collar family and their hilarious predicaments. Jimmy is the underdog you want to root for. He isn't the smartest guy in the world but he puts his new daughter first. His parents aren't the best but they sure try hard and Maw Maw is priceless.

Having Heart Trouble - The Event and Outsourced
Unfortunately The Event is becoming a bore. It is falling into the same pattern of Flashforward where it starts out intriguing and then can't keep the excitement going. I still have a few episodes on the DVR and I'm not dying to watch them.
Outsourced has lost it's hilarity. The first few episodes were great, hilarious, but now the writing has faltered and they are no longer as funny as they were in the beginning. In fact, I have not finished watching the last two episodes. I turned them off mid show and deleted them. Meh.

On Life Support - Undercovers
I can't believe I am saying this but I have lost the desire to watch this show. It has nothing to do with the cast, they are great, it is the writing
(JJ Abrams is obviously busy doing other things and it shows, bummer). There is no urgency in their missions. There is nothing at stake. In Alias, the fate of the entire world was always at stake as well as Sydney's life. There was so much intrigue, twists and turns that if you missed an episode you had to find out what happened, asap. It was a huge water cooler show. The critics and network executives at NBC agree with me about Undercovers as the show was just cancelled for good this week. The ratings were low and with no huge stars to keep it afloat the network decided to take it out of it's misery.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Christmas is almost here, Time for Holiday cards!

My favorite holiday of the year is almost here and in preparation I am planning on ordering Christmas cards from Shutterfly.  There are so many great designs to choose from it is hard to decide which one but I am always partial to Snowflakes, of which they have quite a number to choose from.  So far these are my favorites, Family Snowfall, and Wisemen's Journey.  But if you just want to look at all of the photo cards, here is the link - Flat Photo Cards.  Another cool thing about these cards is the fact that Shutterfly is having a special offer for Bloggers, 50 free cards for blogging about Shutterfly.  How cool is that.  Here is the link if you want to join me, 50 Free Cards from Shutterfly.  So enjoy the holiday preparations, the time with family, and remember the gifts are not what is important, Jesus and his gift to us is the reason for the season.  Spend it with those you love and cherish your time together.

Fall TV Season 2010 - Comedy

I'm rather embarrassed to mention the two new comedies that I enjoyed during premiere week. They are quite irreverent and not very PC. I'm honestly not sure if these shows will last anyways, but their first episodes made me set the DVR to record them for the next few weeks. The first show is Outsourced on NBC. It airs right after The Office which is a great lead in to this politically incorrect show about a manager who is sent to India to handle a novelties call center. Everyone has called for help or been called by their credit card company from a call center in India. We all know the accents and the frustration. This show demonstrates the other side of that phone call. It's a job, with little pay and little understanding of American culture. Like The Office, the characters all represent people we have known in our own jobs taken to extreme comedic proportions. Manmeet uses the call center to pick up women. He spends his time telling overweight, 55 year olds who smoke how gorgeous they are instead of selling them products they don't need. Gupta is the annoying coworker who talks non-stop about things no one wants to hear and doesn't take any hints when people don't want him around. I was immediately hooked. The other comedy I enjoyed was Raising Hope. It's a white trash show like Roseanne but with a heart, as the main character ends up with a baby and he has no idea what to do with her. He does realize that he needs a car seat for her and sets out to pawn his possessions using his only form of transportation that is safe for her, a shopping cart. That is the "family shopping cart," the one they use over their fire pit when they grill outside for dinner. Once again the characters are what carry this show. The mother and grandmother, played by Martha Plimpton and Chloris Leachman respectively are superb. Leachman actually wears only a bra for most of the episode which is both gross and hilarious at the same time. And former Goonie, Plimpton, as irascible as ever, was a delight to see on the screen once again. My only concern is whether the show can stay funny beyond the first few episodes. Only time will tell.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Fall TV Season 2010 - Drama

The new TV season started this week and so far I liked the potential of The Event and Undercovers.  The Event has similarities to last years Flashforward in terms of plot (something/one trying to take over the world/government ) as well as its multiple characters/timelines to follow.  The main character, played by Jason Ritter (who looks more and more like his late father every year) was excellent in the role.  He drew me in immediately.  My only fear is that the show will fail to take cues from Lost and attempt to drag the story out instead of having set times for conclusions.  Viewers want things wrapped up, they don't want to be dragged on a wild goose chase for multiple episodes without some payoff.  Flashforward did not learn this lesson and was canceled, another great concept that went down in flames.  Undercovers, created by Alias director/producer JJ Abrams also caught my eye.  While JJ Abrams name alone made me watch the first episode, I will continue to watch because of the great casting of the main characters.  Two unknown actors fill the main roles of the husband and wife spying team of Steven and Samantha Bloom (Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and they are excellent, especially Boris (yummy).  Their boss is played by Gerald McRaney.  A TV staple for over 20 years, Gerald perfectly fits the role.  While the show is similar to the film Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I'm already attached to this cast more than I ever was to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.  Hopefully the plots will continue to live up to the history of JJ Abrams other projects (Lost, Alias, Fringe) so that I will have a new favorite show to add to my collection.  Another show that premiered this week titled The Chase also had enjoyable moments and a great cast.  However, it doesn't appear like it will be a show where you have to watch every episode to keep up, so I may just watch occasionally.  One of the supporting actors is a favorite of mine from Prison Break (Amaury Nolasco played Sucre) and another Prison Break alum, Robert Knepper (T-Bag) will be guest starring in an upcoming episode.  Despite all of the hype and critical acclaim, I hated Lonestar another new drama that premiered this week.  I found it slow and boring in places.  The main actor didn't carry the role the way I felt a leading man should and the concept of a man keeping two women in the dark about his duplicitous nature just rubbed me the wrong way.  I hated the fact that he was stringing these two women along and yet I was supposed to accept and like this aspect of his character.

Inception, Best Film of 2010?

Last night, I saw what is so far the best movie of 2010, Inception.  Wow, what an amazing film.  I was blown away by its complexity and genius storytelling.  Christopher Nolan wrote an amazing screenplay which held the viewers attention through its amazing twists and turns.  The plot could have gotten out of hand and lost the intended audience, but by using certain visual cues to help viewers remember which dream plane they were on, everything ended up making sense in the end.  The acting was excellent.  Joseph Gordon-Levett was amazing.  Every time I see him I always flash back to his 3rd Rock from the Sun character, which I didn't like.  In this film, however, he showed his acting chops and wow, I was impressed.  The only part that bothered me was the ending, which was left ambiguous.  I am one of those people who like happy endings.  I want the fairy tale.  Everything can go wrong during the course of the film but by the end I want everything to turn out ok.   I therefore choose to believe that at the end of Inception, (Spoiler Warning) Leo's character returns to the real world and his kids.  He is not still in a dream.

Take me back to the 80's - The A-Team!

So I went to see the A-Team on opening day with my friend Shannon and I loved it. What a great adaptation of the TV show. It had enough elements from the original show (like classic lines "I love it when a plan comes together," the theme song, large areas of destruction, B.A's fear of flying etc...) to please die hard fans but it wasn't so trenched in tradition that new fans couldn't enjoy the experience. The acting was the best part of the experience. Bradley Cooper was excellent as Face. He continued the playboy tradition of the character set by Dirk Benedict and was well tanned and muscled to appeal to female viewers. Liam Neeson was a perfect Hannibal, with his gray hair and stogie. He was the man with the plan and always in control. Murdock was probably the most surprising and enjoyable performance of the film. Sharlto Copley of District 9 was superb. After his first scene in the mental hospital, I was completely convinced that he was Murdock, the slightly insane but lovable and trustworthy pilot of the A-Team. His was the hardest role to play, because if he came across as too crazy then he wouldn't be believable as an equal member of the team, let alone a helicopter pilot. The only character that took me a little while to warm up to was B.A. Baracus. It took about 30 minutes before I was able to forget the image of the original B.A., Mr. T, and accept this new model as the same character. By the end of the film I was rooting for him to return to his mohawk and kick some enemy butt. Overall, I think The A-Team was a great remake and a possible sequel material as this one really set the stage of the group as a team, fighting for the underdog. It wasn't as good as the Star Trek reboot of last summer but it comes in a close second. "I pity the fool..."

Fringe

So lately I have gotten into the TV show Fringe. After finishing my thesis, I started catching up on all of the shows I had missed while studying, writing and working for the past two years. I am a hugh JJ Abrams fan, so I was curious when Fringe first premiered 2 years ago. I even made time to watch the first episode, but I wasn't hooked. With Alias and Lost, all it took was one episode and I wanted to watch more. I couldn't wait for the next week to see what happened. With Fringe I could care less. At the end of the first season however, a lot of friends at work started talking about how great Fringe was. I was once again intrigued but because of school and my thesis I couldn't commit to another show. Then two months ago they had a special on Fringe Season 1 at Best Buy - $9.99 for the whole season. I couldn't pass it up for that price so I bought it and started watching. I had to really stick with it for the first 5 episodes (I had been told that the show really improved after the first few episodes), but then I was hooked. The X-Files overtones of the show make it more creepy that JJ's previous endeavors but a lot of his signature moves are there. The strong female lead, the good looking male lead/sidekick, action, interesting characters, mythology and intrique. While Walter, the genius/mentally unstable character steals the show, his son, Peter (played by Joshua Jackson - Mighty Ducks and Dawson's Creek Fame) is equally interesting and has now become the main reason I watch the show. I feel for these characters and I'm now invested in their outcome.

Avatar

So I finally saw Avatar since I finished my thesis, yea! And it was good but not the best movie ever like many people have claimed. The story just got a little long winded and I wanted it to speed ahead and get to the good stuff. I loved the visual effects (but no big shocker there), and the colors and sounds were fantastic. They made the world of the Navi come alive. It seemed real to me and I wasn't even watching it in 3D.

The End is Near

Well, my thesis is finished and turned in to my committee for review. If all goes well and they like what I have done (and if there aren't too many corrections, I will be completely finished with my thesis next week Friday, yea me! I really liked my topic and the research for it was a lot more enjoyable than I thought. The hard part was just writing it all and getting my thoughts down on paper in a form that makes it sound professional. I have never written anything long before and this ended up being 65 pages. Because of my paper, my television and movie watching has taken a backseat, starting next week I can start catching up on all I have missed. So that said, more reviews to follow!

The Hurt Locker

With the Oscars airing this weekend, I figured I should probably see a few more of the nominated films that I have missed this year due to school and work taking up the majority of my time. Last night I rented The Hurt Locker which was quite good but I wouldn't vote for it as best picture. I know a lot of critics disagree with me on this and feel it should win, but it just didn't have that lasting quality that you expect of a best picture winner. I don't think it will be one of those films that you pull out of the case every few months just to watch it again. It is violent and at times depressing, and while the main actor is excellent and really draws you in, the storyline is at times confusing and disjointed. Don't get me wrong, I liked it as a one time viewing and think it is one of the better made films of 2009, but Best Picture? I don't think so. In my mind, Best Picture films are ones that will last and be relevant and watchable years after the excitement of the award has died down. Looking back on the list of winners from years past, I notice a lot of films that are still exceptional to watch today as well as a few whose glow drastically dimmed after their win. Take these timeless winners - Lawrence of Arabia,Lord of the Rings:The Return of the King, Amadeus, Schindler's List, and The Sound of Music. These selections deserved to win and have remained excellent examples of Best Picture winners over the years. Does The Hurt Locker fit with this list? I think not. If it does win, I think it will become a distant memory very quickly like past Oscar winners Kramer vs Kramer (does anyone even watch this film anymore?), The French Connection and Marty to name a few.

District 9

So because of school and work I have been very behind on some of the most popular films but last week I finally saw District 9. Everyone I knew said it was excellent and I can see how creative and different it was. I, however, was very disturbed by it. Because it was set in Johannesburg and because it showed a people group forced to live in slums and be tortured and made fun of by the rest of society, I found the film too much to take. I'm a very sensitive person and even though the aliens were creepy looking, I couldn't bear to see them treated so poorly. So many people make fun of others or treat others as outcasts just because they don't know them. If they got to know who they really are, they would realize how alike they really are. I have some friends who are really great people, but certain members of our society treat them like gum that got stuck on their shoe. It's just not right, they are beautiful people in my eyes and more importantly in God's. I however am not innocent. I will periodically turn the other way when I see a homeless person looking at me with those sad puppy eyes. It isn't that I dislike them or that I am afraid. I just feel so much of their pain when I look in their eyes that I feel guilty for not giving them everything I have. I usually don't carry cash on me so I usually have nothing to give them except credit cards and the clothes off my back, but I still feel guilty. Back to District 9, I actually never finished the movie. My friend has encouraged me to finish it which I may or may not do. Maybe when I am having a good day I can handle the end of the movie, we'll see.

Star Wars vs Avatar

So, I saw an MSNBC article today that had me upset. It was titled ‘Avatar’ surpasses ‘Star Wars’ at No. 3 all-time. I haven't actually seen Avatar yet but I know I will eventually. However, I also know that I don't want it surpassing Star Wars. That disturbs me. I have a lot of film student friends and those that have seen Avatar say the 3D effects are amazing but that the story isn't all that wonderful. Also, is this a film that will completely change the way films are made? Maybe in terms of 3D but what about the film business itself? There wasn't a summer blockbuster film until Star Wars created the trend. Star Wars completely changed how studios made films and marketed them. Merchandising as we know it today was formed because of Star Wars. With the ticket prices as high as they are right now, a lot of films are now making the list that if ticket prices were less, would not. Luckily for me (as I am a huge Star Wars fan - I know, big shocker), the article later says that not counting ticket prices, just using number of tickets sold, Star Wars is still way ahead of Avatar. That is the only way films should be judged anyways. Inflation changes ticket prices every year and will continue to do so. Therefore the only scientific way to judge the popularity of a film is how many people went to see it.

Alias and Other Stuff

So first of all, I guess I should explain the title of this blog. I am a huge Alias fan, the TV show by JJ Abrams. So this blog's title is a tribute to Sydney Bristow, spy extraordinaire. In fact, I am such a fan that I am currently writing my master's thesis on female lead protagonists in the spy genre on television compared to their male counterparts throughout the decades starting in the 1970s. I'll let you know how that goes, it is due by the end of March. Since I am on holiday break from school, I am attempting to catch up on some films that I missed that came out this summer and fall that are now on DVD. Right now I am watching GI Joe, which is so far just ok but not great. The gadgets are cool but so far the story leaves something to be desired. Earlier today, I watched The Proposal which was a good film, but also not great as I couldn't buy the relationship between Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock. It just didn't seem real to me. Although I like both actors, they didn't have any chemistry together, at least not in this film.

A New Year, A Blog!

Well, it's a new year and I've decided to start a blog and stick to it (we'll see how long that lasts, but right now I am hopeful). I plan on using this blog to express my views on certain things going on in the world and in my life as well as reviews of movies and TV shows (my personal favorite topic of discussion) and anything else I can think to say.